The Scottish authority that has hiked council tax by record 15% as SNP minister makes 'big bang' claim

The hike was approved at a meeting of the full Orkney Islands Council​ yesterday as the rise was passed by 15 votes to six.

An amendment to approve a lesser 11 per cent rise in council tax was defeated.

The decision tops the biggest agreed percentage increase in Scotland previously in Clackmannanshire, where council tax was lifted by 11 per cent.

Councillor Heather Woodbridge, the leader of Orkney Islands Council, said the rise was about finding the right balance as she stressed no-one wanted to put the public under pressure.

Morven Brooks, from Voluntary Action Orkney, told the BBC: "We understand the council's need to address financial challenges. However, this significant tax increase raises concerns about its impact on our third-sector organisations and, more importantly, on the vulnerable population we support.

"Many local charities and community groups are already facing increased demand for services and rising operational costs. This tax hike could further strain household budgets, leading to an even greater reliance on third sector services."

The decision comes as Finance Secretary Shona Robison said changes could be made to Scotland’s council tax system rather than a “big bang massive replacement” of the charge.

Ms Robison suggested that rather than have politicians argue about introducing a new system, it might be better to take “incremental steps” towards changing the current model.

Her comments came almost 20 years after the SNP initially pledged to scrap the “unfair” council tax – a commitment made in the run-up to the 2007 Holyrood election.

Now Ms Robison has said any changes to the existing model, which puts properties into bands based on their values in 1991, will not “realistically” happen until after the 2026 Scottish elections.

But she told MSPs on Holyrood’s local government committee that efforts towards “laying the ground work” for these to help build a “willingness to create some consensus to move forward” could happen before then.

The finance secretary told the committee that MSPs “could spend an eternity talking about a full replacement to the council tax”, adding this this would create “more areas of difference we end up just debating backwards and forwards”.

“We kind of have over a number of years been in that position,” she said. “And I guess I have just run out of patience for that, to be honest. I am a pragmatist by nature.

“If rather than make no progress we can just see if we can make some, and even if it is quite modest, it is better than nothing.”

While she said a “different landscape” in the future may mean there is “consensus around a complete replacement to the council tax”, Ms Robison added: “In the here and now I don’t think that’s what is on offer. I think there is just too much scope for division there.”

However, Katie Hagmann, the resources spokesperson for the local government body Cosla, said council leaders were “very clear re-evaluation is something they want to see”.

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